Studio: international art (80.1920)

compares the fluidity of the atmosphere in
this picture with that seen in the canvases
of Rembrandt; and his comparison ends
in favour of the Spanish master. a
This picture of the Meninas affords,
furthermore, one's best means of becoming
acquainted with the artist's method of paint-
ing. The use of the dark mirror is evident
here ; for without it Velasquez could never
have made so true that darkening of the
background which serves to make the fore-
ground scene so luminous. The canvas
was completely prepared with a very liquid
bone black, showing quite distinctly in
certain places ; then the colours, all very
fluid, mixed with oil or terebenthine, form
the masses by melting, and never detaching,
them. The isolated touches, so typical of
Velasquez, are here very few, serving only
to give just the right note of relief here and
there. The tones employed are those that
were always the artist's favourites : white,
ivory black, bone black, light ochre, burnt
sienna, terre de Seville, and carmine. The
greens are made sometimes with cobalt,
black and ochre, at others with blue and cal-
cined ochre. The extraordinary lightness of
the work is not broken by correction of any
sort, for here Velasquez had nothing to
alter ; when any part failed to satisfy him
he preferred to do it all over again. Thus
everything in this picture is perfect—every-
thing save just one thing, the disproportion
between the smallness of the " palette "
here used by Velasquez and the importance
of the work on hand. But the colours seen
therein are indeed those discovered in this
study by Sehor de Beruete, and they con-
firm the declarations made by the lecturer
in his discourse on " The Palette of
Velasquez." Margarita Nelken.

Five years ago a Special Number of The
Studio was issued entitled " London Past
and Present." Within the next few days
a companion volume, " Londoners Then
and Now as pictured by their Contempo-
raries," will be published which will deal
with the various phases and aspects of
London Life at different periods during the
last two centuries. A selection of old
pictures and prints will show how Lon-
doners deported themselves in the past;
while the London of to-day will be
presented by living artists. 0 a

THE REVIVAL OF ATHLETIC
SCULPTURE: DR. R. TAIT
McKENZIE'S WORK. a 0

ON the wall of the Stadium at Stock-
holm, where the Olympic Games of
1912 were held, is a large bronze relief,
the work of the Canadian doctor and sculp-

THE AVIATOR." MEMO-
RIAL STATUE TO LIEUT.
NORTON DOWNS, R.F.C.,
BY R. TAIT MACKENZIE
133